Tuesday, December 7, 2010

More than meets the eye?: Dinesh D'Souza's presidential photo

(HT: Carl Trueman). According to Michael McClenahan, "The King’s College, an evangelical college in Manhattan, is officially distributing this photograph of the inauguration of their fifth President, Dinesh D’Souza." (Click presidential photo below for full size). If you look closely, the portrait on the wall behind President D'Souza is that of St. Thomas More. This is immensely interesting given the controversy over whether or not President D'Souza is or is not a Catholic. (See my comments on the matter here.). There is no doubt that President D'Souza recognizes the historical, theological, and literary significance of More in shaping the trajectory of Protestantism and Catholicism in the United Kingdom. After all, President D'Souza is the editor of an outstanding volume, The Catholic Classics, published in 1986 by Our Sunday Visitor. (It includes introductory comments by two of the most important American Catholics of the 20th century, the late John J. Cardinal O'Connor, Archbishop of New York City, and the late William F. Buckley, Jr., conservative public intellectual and founder of National Review magazine)